At Metanym, we have long believed in the power of networking.
Most people don’t like making cold calls, and nobody likes receiving them. Cold selling just doesn’t work in the business to business marketplace.
We’d much rather build trust and long term relationships by getting involved in all types of networking activity, from physical meetings like BNI or Business Biscotti, to Social Media (online networking). It is a much more sustainable way of doing business – and much more enjoyable too. The BNI terminology (which we definitely agree with) is that you should be a “farmer” not a “hunter” – a hunter has to go out every day and make a fresh kill from scratch, whereas a farmer prepares the ground and sows the seed for long lasting benefit.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating though:
Last month, one of our partners secured a £10k project, just by being at a particular networking group, where someone’s partner, also a web programmer, needed some help on a major project for a large multinational company, which required a different programming language to the one he worked in. We stepped right in to help!
The previous month, another partner secured a £15k project, doing web development for another graphic designer, who specialises mainly in print work and who needed a website building to their design for a client, who the partner had met via an online networking forum (Yahoo Groups). We now have a burgeoning relationship with that designer and this is one of many projects we have and will deliver for them.
Those projects, and many others like them, were secured just by being there, and by being willing and able to help in a solid and professionally backed up way.
